The field of the invention relates generally to methods and devices for facilitating transactions between two parties who don""t understand each other, such as, for example, two individuals who do not speak the same language. The present invention pertains to transactional flash cards, and a method of using transactional flash cards to perform a transaction with another party who doesn""t understand the user. Using the flash cards of the present invention, the user does not need to read, speak or even pronounce a word to the other party to the transaction, but instead may simply present a selected transactional flash card to the other party to communicate the goal and intent of the transaction.
Existing translational communication aids are conceived to teach or assist a person in learning, reading or speaking a foreign language. This means that such aids are not designed to perform a transaction for the user by clearly communicating the goal of the transaction to another party. Instead, existing translational communication aids are designed to teach someone how to speak and communicate in that foreign language. Transactional flash cards are actually quite the opposite; they circumvent the need to learn, memorize or even pronounce a word or a phrase.
Existing, traditional translation devices may be difficult to use in performing a specific transaction. This is because translation devices are conceived for different purposes such as lexical (dictionaries) or educational purposes and not specifically for performing a transaction whereby the user does not have to learn, read, speak or even pronounce a word in the other party""s language.
Educational flash cards are known. These cards may contain an image of an object and its name, but are designed to teach an individual to memorize/learn a word. With their elementary vocabulary and their functionality as a teaching device, educational flash cards can not and are not meant to communicate and perform a transaction for a user who doesn""t understand and is not understood by the party he or she wants to perform the transaction with. For example a traveler in a foreign place would not be served in conducting a transaction with such educational flash cards. Such an individual needs a more specifically structured device which communicates and performs a transaction for him or her. Such a transaction could be, for example, ordering food in a restaurant where no one speaks the card holder""s language. In their structure, educational flash cards do not have at least two basic elements: 1. A name of the goal of the transaction and a statement of intent (such as a phrase to describe the intent to order food) displayed in the language of the second party and in the language of the cardholder, and 2. the essential information regarding the goal of the transaction displayed in the cardholder""s language. As in the above example of ordering food, a mere translation of the name of a meal using an educational flash card may not mean anything to the cardholder because he or she would not be familiar with the colloquial nature of the name of a meal. Additionally, there might not even be a name for a particular meal in the cardholder""s language (for example it is difficult to translate xe2x80x9cchirashi sushixe2x80x9d into English, as one may only spell it phonetically in the latin alphabet, which would not help a cardholder to know what he or she is ordering).
Dictionaries generally do not contain terms of transactional goals such as the names of merchandise etc. because they are typically used for text translations. They are also not normally useful for visual communications because of their traditionally small print and because they contain negligible imagery.
Travel brochures may contain imagery with information about a place or custom but are not useful in aiding transactions between two parties who don""t speak the same language.
Travel guides may have short glossaries of useful terms, but contain little if any imagery. They are also organized in a format which makes their use cumbersome in attempting to display an idea or the goal of a transaction to a second party. An additional disadvantage with both travel guides and brochures is that the traveler still has to learn to pronounce a word or phrase correctly to ensure proper understanding by another party. Travel guides and brochures are conceived for an informative, and not a transactional purpose, and as such they aid the user little in performing a transaction.
In summary, known translation devices are not transactional tools, and as such they provide little assistance to a user in performing a transaction with a second party who doesn""t speak the user""s language.
It is the object of the present invention to provide transactional flash cards that will assist the user in performing a transaction with another party without spoken communication between the user and the other party. For example, if the user and the other party speak two different languages it is unnecessary for the user to speak, read, or even pronounce word to of the other party.
The present invention provides a method of performing a transaction without the use of spoken communication between the parties to the transaction, comprising the steps of: providing at least one transactional flash card displaying text understandable to the user and different text understandable to the other party and an image, both texts and the image describing the same transaction goal; and selecting the flash card to communicate the transaction goal so that when the user presents the flash card to the other party the goal of the transaction is communicated that party.
The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may further comprise providing the transactional flash cards with a phrase in separate sets of text, one understandable to the user and a second understandable to the other party describing an intent to perform the same transaction and to achieve the same goal. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may additionally comprise providing a transactional flash card which displays information additional to the text describing the transaction goal, and which additional text is understandable to user, where such additional information is not displayed as text understandable to the other party. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing a transactional flash cards having at least one icon containing condensed information about the transaction goal. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may additionally comprise providing a transactional flash card containing an inquiry as to the price of the transaction. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may further comprise providing a transactional flash card containing text, or an icon, inquiring whether the second party prefers a particular form of payment. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing a transactional flash card having an erasable surface.
In a different embodiment, the step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing transactional flash cards as a set of 52 cards, where each flash card in the set comprises a different playing card suit (e.g. hearts, diamonds, spades or clubs) and a different number (e.g. deuce through ace), such that the set comprises a deck of standard playing cards.
In another embodiment of the present method, the step of providing at least one transactional flash card may further comprise providing a transactional flash card on an electronic device having a computer memory and a display screen, where the step of providing a transactional flash card comprises providing the flash card in the computer memory so that the flash card may be viewed on the display screen. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing a transactional flash card on an electronic device capable of receiving removable memory media, such as CD, memory stick, etc. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing a transactional flash card on an electronic device containing at least one prompt to allow the first party to view on the display screen information stored in the removable memory media. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing a transactional flash card on an electronic device capable of connecting to the internet, where the electronic device has a prompt providing a link to an internet site, and the link may comprise a connection to a financial institution capable of performing payment transactions upon an instruction from a user of the electronic device, or the link may comprise a connection to an internet site capable of providing additional transactional flash cards to the electronic device.
In yet another embodiment of the present method, the step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing a transactional flash card on an electronic device further comprising a calculator capable of performing and displaying at least basic mathematical functions. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing a transactional flash card on an electronic device capable of calculating and displaying an exchange rate and currency conversion for currencies of at least two different countries. The step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing a transactional flash card on an electronic device may also comprise providing an electronic device capable of connecting to the internet and capable of calculating and displaying exchange rates for currencies of at least two different countries, where the electronic device communicates with at least one internet site to automatically obtain and display an exchange rate and currency conversion when the names of two countries and one money amount are input to the device.
In a further embodiment of the present method, the step of providing at least one transactional flash card may also comprise providing a transactional flash card on an electronic device having a surface on which information may be entered into the device using a stylus, and further where such entered information may be displayed on the screen.
In a different embodiment of the present method, the step of providing an electronic device may further comprise providing an electronic device having a microphone and a display screen, where the device may record sound entered using the microphone and display a representation of the sound on the display screen.
In still another embodiment of the present method, the step of providing an electronic device may further comprise providing an electronic device capable of converting text that is understandable to the user holding the electronic device to an audible message that is understandable to another party, where when the user presents the electronic device to the other party, the goal of the transaction is communicated to that other party when that party listens to the audible message.
The present invention also provides a device for facilitating a transaction having a goal between parties who don""t understand each other, comprising at least one transactional flash card having a front side and a back side, at least the front side having a display comprising text understandable to the user and different text understandable to the other party, and an image, where both the texts and the image describe the same transaction goal. The transactional flash card front or back side may also contain a phrase in texts understandable to both parties describing an intent to perform the transaction goal. The transactional flash card front or back side may further contain information understandable to the user that is additional to the text describing the transactional goal and phrase, where the additional information is not understandable to the other party to the transaction. The transactional flash card may also contain an erasable surface. The transactional flash cards may be provided as a set of 52 cards, where each flash card in the set comprises a different playing card suit (e.g. hearts, diamonds, spades or clubs) and a different number (e.g. deuce through ace), such that the set comprises a deck of standard playing cards.
In another embodiment, the transactional flash cards may be provided on an electronic device having a computer memory and a display screen, where the transactional flash card is displayed in electronic form on the screen. The electronic device may also comprise a calculator. The electronic device may also have a connection enabling communication with the internet.